Links

The GPL Wins Again

In December 2009, the Software Freedom Conservancy filed lawsuits against 14 consumer electronics vendors alleging that they were not in compliance with the GPL license. Of those 14 vendors, 13 have now either settled amicably or are in productive discussions toward a settlement.

In one case, consumer electronics vendor Westinghouse failed to comply, and a U.S. District Court has now ruled in a default judgment against it.

The open source GPL license is widely used and requires distributors to ensure that the code remains open and distributed with the products that use the code. Westinghouse includes the BusyBox GPL-licensed code as part of its HDTVs, and does not provide users with access to the GPL code. The court ruled that Westinghouse did not comply with its discovery obligations.